For folks that are new to the Mac and OS X, it can be difficult to get started finding the best applications. There are so many available that sifting the wheat from the chaff can be quite daunting indeed! But don't worry, in this post I've included a great list of apps for the Mac that should meet the needs of most users.

I cannot take credit for this list, however. I found it in a great thread in the Apple subreddit. Redditor themacorchard compiled the list with his own selections, and then broadened it with the suggestions of other redditors in the thread.

This list of apps should cover the needs of pretty much any Mac user. Some of my own favorites are in the list including VLC, Transmission, Day One, TextWrangler and others.

There's quite a bit of fantastic software to get you started using your Mac. Enjoy!

Backblaze: Unlimited cloud backup. [There's some discussion in the comments about its features compared to Crashplan, so I recommend checking that out if you're considering an online backup service or have any concerns.]

PhotoSweeper: Powerful duplicate photo cleaner that works with Photos, iPhoto, Lightroom, and Aperture. Also check out PowerPhotos which has similar functionality, but includes support for things like managing and merging multiple libraries (though it's only for Photos.app).

Paste: Clipboard history manager. A couple people have mentioned the beta of the newest version, which is available here. Copied is similar but has iOS versions (Paste iOS is reportedly on its way). An open source alternative is Flycut.

Jim Lynch is a technology analyst and online community manager. Jim has written for many leading industry publications over the years.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of InfoWorld, ITworld, CIO.com, IDG Communications, or their parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies.